Sizing up MW foes

Key note: Four of the Cowgirls’ five starters are averaging double figures in points per game and they are first among MW teams in scoring offense (71.8 ppg).

Fresno State (8-5)

Last season: 28-6, 13-1 in WAC

Preseason prediction: 2nd

Key note: Junior guard Ki-Ki Moore was WAC Player of the Year last season and is averaging 16.2 points per game this season.

New Mexico (8-5)

Last season: 11-20, 3-11

Preseason prediction: 6th

Key note: The Lobos were blitzed by Colorado in late December by 45 points; SDSU fell to the Buffaloes by 14.

Boise State (7-6)

Last season: 15-16, 5-9

Preseason prediction: 7th

Key note: Senior forward Lauren Lenhardt was a preseason All-MW pick and currently is sixth among conference players with a 14.4 ppg.

Nevada (5-8)

Last season: 7-23, 3-11 in WAC

Preseason prediction: 8th

Key note: Nevada is averaging 11.1 steals per game to rank second in the conference. Senior Chanelle Brennan has scored in double figures in 10 games.

Colorado State (4-9)

Last season: 13-17, 9-5

Preseason prediction: 5th

Key note: The Rams head into the conference opener against SDSU on Saturday having lost eight of their last 10 games.

UNLV (4-10)

Last season: 22-10, 10-4

Preseason prediction: 3rd

Key note: The Lady Rebels played a demanding nonconference schedule and paid the price, including five losses in their last six games.

Air Force (1-12)

Last season: 6-24, 1-13

Preseason prediction: 9th

Key note: Only win this season came in overtime against Cal State Bakersfield. Falcons lost to USD by 31 in early December.

Beth Burns isn’t bragging and she isn’t backing off.

A year ago her San Diego State women’s basketball team was an unknown entity with a bunch of new faces. Mountain West opponents then discovered quickly that the Aztecs would be formidable en route to the conference championship and an NCAA Tournament berth.

This year, the conference teams know exactly what they’re getting when Mountain West play begins this week.

“A year ago we were kind of under the radar,” Burns said. “Now we very much are the radar.

“We’re going to be the biggest home game on everybody’s schedule. I’m not trying to self-aggrandize; I’m being real. We were 12-2 in league last year and most of the faces they recognize are back.”

The Aztecs, 9-4 thus far, will somewhat nervously open their conference season with a 7 p.m. home game today against Fresno State. The Bulldogs (8-6) are an old rival from SDSU’s days in the WAC, but they are new this season to the nine-team Mountain West and the Aztecs haven’t faced them since 2002. Burns called them the “X Factor” in the league this year.

“Half their roster is either from Australia or Oklahoma,” Burns said with a grin about a team that has four Aussie players, two Oklahomans and only three Californians. “I have never seen them. I have never coached against their coach (Raegan Pebley, in her first year at Fresno after nine seasons at Utah State).”

The Bulldogs were 13-1 in the WAC last season and return that conference’s Player of the Year in junior guard Ki-Ki Moore. They garnered two first-place votes in the preseason poll, dominated by the Aztecs, who were the overwhelming top pick with 22 No. 1 votes.

Only Wyoming (11-2) posted a better nonconference record than SDSU, but Burns put together a much tougher early schedule to challenge her senior-laden team. The Aztecs’ losses included a 14-point defeat at UCLA, a one-point setback to Washington and an eight-point loss against then-No. 13 Oklahoma State.

Burns struggled early to find a comfortable rotation because she lost sophomore guard Anjalee Harvey for five games with a broken hand and sophomore forward Dezi Culberson was recovering from knee surgery.

But the starting lineup has been very consistent: returning conference Player of the Year Courtney Clements, superb playmaker Chelsea Hopkins, 6-foot-6 center Malia Nahinu and forwards Erimma Amarikwa and Gabrielle Clark.

Clements is leading the team with an 18.3 scoring average, while Hopkins is second (11.9) and has been the Aztecs’ assist leader in 10 of the 13 games. Nahinu is pulling down 5.8 rebounds per game.

Amarikwa, averaging 8.8 points as a sophomore, is the only starter who isn’t a senior, and that’s why Burns has such high expectations for her team, which lost to LSU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last year.

“Our challenge is more mental,” the coach said. “It’s a grind. Sometimes when your team is older and they’ve been to March … March is fun … they kind of go through the motions. We’re not good enough to go through the motions and not get beat.”

To understand how challenging conference play in the Mountain West can be, there is the example of Air Force last season. The Falcons were the worst team in the league with a 1-13 record, yet in three meetings with them, the Aztecs’ margins of victory were 13, 13 and 10 points.

“The other girls in our conference, they might not be the fastest or most athletic, but they will wear you down mentally,” Clements said. “They’ll take all of those 25 seconds on the shot clock and find the best shot possible. That can beat you as badly as someone being able to jump out of the gym.”